Rep. Gutierrez to retire

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, the Democrats’ point man in the fight for amnesty and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, will announce that he’s retiring after 13 terms in office, according to the Washington Post. The Post reports that Gutierrez has scheduled an afternoon news conference in Chicago to make a “major announcement regarding the March 2018 Democratic Primary election and the national political landscape.” Presumably, he will announce his retirement at that news conference.

The Post calls Gutierrez’s announcement surprising. It notes that Gutierrez, who is only 63, just filed his candidate petitions for the Illinois primary with the State Board of Elections. The late announcement gives potential successors to his predominantly Hispanic Chicago district less than a week to gather signatures to get on the March 20 ballot.

The Post speculates that Gutierrez might be considering a run for mayor of Chicago in 2019. The current mayor, Rahm Emmanuel, says he’s planning on a bid for a third term.

That’s a possible explanation for the war horse’s surprise announcement. In the current “reckoning,” another explanation for the sudden about-face comes to mind, even if it shouldn’t.

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